Joey Payeur
Anyone who thinks they had a busier week than the Muskie boys’ hockey team either sells winter clothes for a living or simply is kidding themselves.
The Muskies played their sixth game in eight days last night when they hosted the Dryden Eagles in their regular-season home finale (the score was unavailable as of press time).
Scattered among their achievements before that were league wins here against the St. Thomas Aquinas Saints (9-0 on Thursday), the Red Lake Rams (12-3 on Friday), and the Kenora Broncos (8-1 on Saturday) to improve to 12-0 in NorWOSSA play.
The win over the Rams clinched first place—giving the Muskies home-ice advantage throughout the playoffs as they shoot for a ninth-straight NorWOSSA crown.
But it was their second of two exhibition games (the first being a 2-0 win against the Kittson Bearcats in Hallock, Mn.) that stood out as the highlight of the Muskies’ busy week.
In front of a crowd not seen at a high school game here in many years, the black-and-gold overcame a rocky start to earn a 6-1 win over the International Falls Broncos on Monday night at the Ice For Kids Arena.
An official attendance of 1,227 spectators witnessed a hard-hitting, fast-paced affair in the resumption of the “Border Battle” that last was held in 2012 after several incidents in the stands and the parking lot between rival fans led to the cancellation of the annual clash.
“When we saw all the people out there, I got a rattle in my bones,” said Muskie forward Chase McGuire, who had two goals and two assists to spearhead Fort High’s attack.
“Then when I saw all the signs on the end glass with our names on them, that really got me pumped.”
The tone was set early with a quartet of booming bodychecks delivered by both sides that revved up what was a pumped up but well-mannered crowd, which included several hundred Falls supporters as well as the Broncos’ cheerleading squad.
The Broncos gave the Muskies fits in their own zone in the first five minutes of the game before McGuire sparked a turnaround of fortunes with a goal to remember.
Moving down the right-wing against Broncos’ defenceman Trevor Bevcar, McGuire steered the puck around Becvar in a play reminiscent of the old “how do you do” play made famous by former Hockey
Night in Canada commentator Howie Meeker.
Broncos’ goalie Lane Skallman came charging out to knock the puck away but McGuire held it an extra second longer, then changed course and went around the prone goalie before sending the puck into the empty cage.
“That was a really timely goal by Chase in the first,” noted Muskie head coach Jamie Davis, whose team took the first four penalties of the game.
“It was not looking good in the first,” he conceded. “We were paralyzed and penalties were hurting us.
“After that, we played pretty steady all game.”
McGuire said it was just a matter of executing a play from practice.
“Mike [Drouin] was looking for me on this stretch play to the far blueline that we work on all the time,” he explained.
“He hit me right on the tape and their defenceman came to poke the puck away, but I pulled it through his legs.
“Then the goalie thought he had the jump on me, but I held it back and then slid it in,” McGuire added.
It was a much better defensive effort by the Muskies in the second period, who tallied twice to add to the lead.
Kendyn Faragher, who missed the last two games with a lower-body injury, reeled in a face-off win by Brent Jourdain and unleashed a quick shot that beat Skallman.
On the ensuing face-off, Brady Wright of the Broncos got a double minor for butt-ending.
When Jakob Eide took a tripping penalty 57 seconds later, the Muskies had a golden opportunity with a two-man advantage for a full two minutes.
Graeme Kitt found McGuire in front, whose shot was stopped, but Sully Shortreed zipped in for the rebound.
The Broncos couldn’t score on an early third-period power play but cut into the lead at 7:46 when Riley Nemec fired home a feed from behind by the net past Muskie goalie Dylan Ossachuk.
All that did was get McGuire’s attention.
The speedy sophomore looked like a dragster going past a pair of scooters as he beat Bevcar and Wyatt Boyum to a puck cleared into the Broncos’ zone.
McGuire then froze Skallman with a fake shot before centering it to Shortreed, who shook off Bevcar and fired the puck past a diving Skallman.
Then just 10 seconds later, Nick Hahkala entered the zone off the face-off and blistered a shot that Skallman only got a partial glove on before it wound up in the net.
McGuire capped the scoring when, on a delayed penalty to the Broncos, he batted Shortreed’s pass out of mid-air and off both posts and in.
“This was the single best game I’ve ever been in, for sure,” said McGuire before candidly addressing the state of NorWOSSA this season.
“It’s tough playing in our league this season and staying focused because we already know the game’s going to be a blowout beforehand, and it’s tough to play that same game over and over again,” he admitted.
“You start to sink down to the level of your opponents so games like this are important if we’re going to succeed later in the season,” he reasoned.
The Muskies will close the regular season on the road with games Friday against the Sioux Lookout Warriors and then Tuesday against the Eagles.
Dates and times for the NorWOSSA playoffs have yet to be determined.
